• October 31, 2025

    Thank you for joining us at the 2025 Region 10 Transportation Conference!

    In October, the 12th Annual PacTrans Region 10 Transportation Conference was held at Portland State University, drawing transportation researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from all across the Pacific Northwest for this year’s theme, Connecting Communities: Improving Mobility Under Uncertainty.

    Conference sessions highlighted research in Smart Mobility Analytics, Human-Centered Mobility, and Infrastructure Resilience. Lightning Talks and a Student Poster Session showcased emerging ideas and technologies aimed at improving the safety of regional transportation systems.

    View photos from the conference >>

    Opening Plenary: Transporation Truths for Linking Research and Practice

    Greg Griffin, professor of practice at the University of Texas at San Antonio and author of Transport Truths: Planning Methods and Ethics for Global Futures (Bristol University Press, 2025), opened the conference with insights on closing the gap between research and implementation. Using Austin’s I-35 corridor as a case study, Griffin underscored the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement in tackling “wicked” transportation challenges.

    Keynote: How Cities Can Prepare for Self-Driving Cars

    David Zipper, Senior Fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, delivered the keynote address, expanding on his Vox article, “A self-driving car traffic jam is coming for US cities.” Zipper discussed how cities can proactively plan for large-scale integration of autonomous vehicles.
     Watch the keynote recording! >>

    Student Posters and Awards

    PacTrans students presented their research during the afternoon poster session, with awards recognizing top projects, sponsored by Kittelson & Associates.

    • 1st Place: Amr Lamloum, University of Idaho for his poster titled “Detecting & Classifying Non-Motorized and Low-Power Micromobility Using Amplitude-Based Inductive-Loop Signatures”
    • 2nd Place Tahseen Talukder, University of Idaho for his poster titled “Modeling the Resilience of Multimodal Freight Corridors Under Disruptions: A Systemic Review”
    • 3rd Place: Mehrdad Nasri, University of Washington for his poster titled “Can Surrogate Safety Measures Explain Crash Patterns at Signalized Intersections? Evidence from Large-Scale Connected-Vehicle Data Using Negative Binomial, Random Forest, and GNN Models”

     

    Towards the end of the day, we presented the 2025 PacTrans Awards:

    • Outstanding Research Award: Ji Yun Lee, Washington State University, for her outstanding research with significant outcomes, incorporating meaningful student contributions, and robust community service/leadership involvement.
    • Lifetime Achievement Award: Roger Millar, WSDOT (Retired), for his distinguished career in transportation in the Pacific Northwest with substantial involvement in the UTC Program.
    • Excellence in Technology Transfer Award: Wei Cheng, University of Washington Tacoma, for his effective partnerships and collaboration with outside industries, innovative marketing of newly developed technologies, and successful implementation of search results.

    Thank you again for joining us at the 2025 PacTrans Conference in Portland, Oregon! We are proud to continue the tradition of providing the premier forum for transportation research, innovation, and collaboration across the Pacific Northwest.

    PacTrans Student Conference: Connecting Students with Real-World Transportation Challenges

    The following day, PacTrans hosted a dedicated Student Conference. The free event, open to undergraduate and graduate students, featured networking, a live resume workshop, and a panel discussion on the multi-state Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) project over the Columbia River through WA and OR. To conclude the day, students participated in a Portland Bridge Tour that highlighted real-world transportation practice and showcased a key regional project.

    View Student Conference Photos >>

    Thank you to our conference sponsors!